Nico Hoerner Will Miss the Japan Series

And that sent Brett down a roster rules rabbit hole.

Although he’ll miss the Tokyo Series, things are still tracking toward Nico Hoerner being available for the Stateside season opener in Arizona, per Craig Counsell.

Some evidence that it isn’t just hope-ium? The Cubs looked into bringing Hoerner along on the Japan trip and continuing his rehab there, but concluded it would only have made sense if he were FURTHER away from a return (Sun-Times). In other words, the Cubs wanted to leave him back at Spring Training so that he could get in games there to gear up for the regular season – he’s expected to be that close to a return at that point.

For his part, Hoerner is disappointed that he won’t be able to participate in Japan, but he knew all along that was a strong possibility.

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